Now’s the time of the year where I ask everyone to let me know which features work, which do not work so well, and what new feature you would like to see next yard sale season. Let me know how things are going!

At the least I am hoping to continue to improve the address alerts to let folks know when an address may be suspect. Many addresses in craigslist ads are either incomplete or not shown correctly on the map, and YSTM does a lot of work behind the scenes to fix this, and then alert you when YSTM sees something wrong, but can’t exactly correct the problem.

What other features are you looking for in a yard sale finding tool? Let me know!

Over the past two weeks I have been receiving reports from iPhone users on AT&Ts network that sales are not loading on their map. I have begun investigating this problem and it appears that AT&T is blocking the communication path for some reason. While I run this to ground, if you are experiencing this problem please comment below so that I can keep track of who is affected.

— EDIT —

This morning I submitted an update to Apple which I hope will fix this problem. I don’t know for certain, however, since the problem is so isolated that I can’t test correctly. It appears that SOME AT&T networks are modifying the sales response from the server WITHOUT showing any sort of network error. Also this seems to only happen in places that are very busy with yard sales. Basically, iOS + AT&T + busy yard sale area = risk of your app not working.

My thinking is that the sudden spike in server traffic is flagging something in a firewall somewhere. I have also pushed the issue up to Apple to investigate. Once you receive the new app update please let me know the status of the issue.

— EDIT —

09/11/14 – With the latest app update this issue appears to be resolved. Please let me know if you are still having issues!

You may have noticed that the homepage no longer shows sales. Or a map. Or much else for that matter. The good news is that Yard Sale Treasure Map has a license agreement in place with craigslist allowing me to display craigslist content in my apps for iOS and Android. The bad news is that this license does not extend to websites.

And so we lay to rest the website into a place of eternal slumber and we will remember with joy the treasures found through its use.

Goodbye website.

— Edit —–

I wasn’t quite expecting this response. It’s great to know how useful this site was to you all!

It did not completely occur to me to keep the site but remove the craigslist ads. I will try to make that work and resurrect the site from the dead. Thank you for your support.

During the cold months of the year I have been hard at work improving the YSTM mobile apps for iOS and Android. Both apps now have the ability to sync the sale route with other devices (iOS, Android, and the website) by simply signing in with a Google account. Both apps also have a new keyword feature to automatically color matched sales to more easily find those “estate” or “neighborhood” sales each week.

Aside from these features, the Android app specifically required an extensive overhaul. The big visual change is the new sliding menu, but underneath it all things will be more stable, efficient, and tablet friendly. The next glaringly necessary feature for Android is a way to view sales in list format, like we have for iOS. This will be the first feature I add during the next development cycle later this year. Also recently added is Monday and Tuesday search. Now you can efficiently yard sale all week long!

The iOS app will get one more update this season to fix bugs and add Monday and Tuesday support.

On the whole things seem to be working really well. As always, I depend on your feedback so that I know when things are broken and what features you would most like to see. Thanks again for your support!

It was a rocky deployment that cost me half a star in my app rating, but the YSTM Android app updates are finally complete and I think it was worth it!

Updated the mapping engine (now with rotation and tilt gestures for 3d views)

Improved the location search feature

Improved map refreshing capability to load new sales when you scroll too far away from your home location

Added a new alerts feature to let you know when sale markers are incorrect and let other users know if you find a problem

Improved the look and feel of the map menu and the sale info page

App will now rotate orientation

A small amount of users are still getting a “package signing” error when downloading from Google Play. This is a Google problem that I am looking into and will hopefully be resolved the next time there is a Google software update. On the whole app seems to be solid.

For the next major app improvements I plan on waiting until after yard sale season to release any updates. If you are interested in getting these updates sooner shoot me an email. I just need to add you to a google+ group and then you will receive Beta updates through Google Play. These users will also have more influence on future features… nudge nudge.

The next step is to do these same things to the iOS app hopefully later this month.

The Community Sales tools have been upgraded to be completely redone and streamlined to let users distribute their own maps, webpages, directions, guides, etc

The website mapping engine has been upgraded to the new version of Google maps and other bugs have been fixed

The entire site has been sped up considerably

craigslist legal stuff is in a happy place

I am also nearly finished with a substantial Android app update that I have been working on and off since January. I will add a new post describing the cool new features once I have this updated in the Play store in a week or two.

As always, continue to let me know when you find problems and don’t forget to show your friends on sale day how much more efficient they could be if they used Yard Sale Treasure Map.

I have finally finished the first phase of Add Sales Spreadsheet tool. This tool integrates directly with the main site to let users quickly add and manage lots of sales in a spreadsheet format, where previously users could only add one sale at a time (with zero management capabilities). This should be a serious step forward for folks who live places where craigslist isn’t used extensively.

The second phase is to finish reworking this spreadsheet tool for folks who are looking to bring their community/neighborhood garage sales into the digital age. The spreadsheet page will look the same, but users will have access to a Google or Silverlight map specific to their sale. Additionally there is another tool that will automatically create the sale guide for distribution during the event. This is basically a rework of my previous community sale effort, with improved tools and a free price tag. I should have this available within two weeks so stayed tuned.

For now, you can access the spreadsheet tool in the “Add Sales” tab on the main site. Post comments to let me know what worked and what didn’t! I will be making tweaks as appropriate.

It’s been almost three years since we posted the first version of “Yard Sale Mapper” iPhone app on the app store. Since then there have been a few features added, but this spring we have given the app a complete overhaul and added lots of handy features!

Users can now flag sales of interest, perform text searches, change the search radius, and browse sales in list format (as well as by map location as before). In addition, this app now also runs on iPad, giving you an enhanced experience. This app is available now free on the app store. Check it out and let me know what you think!

It’s been a while since I’ve updated the blog, which someone just pointed out to me. In January 2011 I finally finished my original goal of linking the website to the mobile apps. Now yard salers can use the feature-rich web site for their planning, then send their planned route to their phone and use the on-the-go app features for Android and iPhone.

Also, yard salers are understanding the power of the “Add Sales” tab and how they can plot sales from other sources into YSTM to make it easier to plan.

Based on your feedback, the next few updates will be:

Fixing the delete sale feature in the itinerary

Fixing the update sale feature so that any sale can be updated by anyone

Revamping the add sales feature to let users put in neighborhood addresses and make corrections as necessary

After many requests, I have finally started working on a way for communities and neighborhoods to map their large-scale yard sales. Community sales have their own private site (using a more interesting and powerful Silverlight map) while all sales are also displayed on the main site, the iPhone app (Yard Sale Mapper), and the Android app (Yard Sale Treasure Map).

If you don’t see the above map, please hit the download silverlight button… you’ll be glad you did!

While I have only agreed to put together these private maps for a few communities this Fall, I intend to polish up this technology over the Winter so everything is good and ready for the Spring yard sale season!

Additionally I plan on updating both mobile apps with search capability as well as a route sharing feature.